


Man's Best Friend

by shinealightonme



Series: Great Powers, Moderate Responsibility [2]
Category: Psych
Genre: Comment Fic, Dog(s), Gen, Shapeshifting, Superpowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-19
Updated: 2011-02-19
Packaged: 2017-10-15 18:38:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/163723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinealightonme/pseuds/shinealightonme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The pros and cons of life as a dog.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Man's Best Friend

**Author's Note:**

  * For [entwashian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/entwashian/gifts).



Buzz liked being a dog. It was simple, like – whenever he was a dog, there was only one thing in the world. If he was following a scent, it was the only scent that mattered; if he was chasing a criminal, that was the only person on the street; if he was sneaking a bite from an abandoned sandwich, by God, it was the only sandwich in the world, and by that definition also the best.

Of course, there was a downside, which was if there was something bad, it was the worst thing ever. And the worst of worst things was fleas.

Buzz had long ago torn out the carpets in his apartment and replaced them with hardwood floors. It was a shame, because there wasn't anything quite so nice as stretching out soft plush fur against a soft plush carpet, resting all four of his feet and soaking in the luxury, but it wasn't worth it when the rugs harbored biting, itchy bugs.

Buzz was intimately acquainted with every kind of flea-killing shampoo on the market, could rank them by which ones worked best and which ones were the least pleasant – the first place on both lists was the same – and they helped, for a while. Sooner or later, though, he'd be out on all fours and meet up with a stray and then the bugs would be back the next day. He could only think how much worse it would be to be the strays, and have no itching powder or apartment floors to stretch out on or Detective O'Hara to give you beef jerky treats when you were on a case.

It wasn't any good for a cop to go showing up at work, scratching uncontrollably, but he couldn't take sick days for fleas. Even with the weird circumstances in the SBPD, that excuse wouldn't fly, or at least not more than once.

Buzz tried his hardest to be the best cop he could be in every other way, ironed uniforms and clean-shaven face to look the part, and he'd always end up scratching right when Detective Lassiter walked by, and the detective would give him a _look_.

Detective Lassiter had never had fleas, but there had been that time he'd had a cold and spent a week dropping things when he fell out of phase and walking into walls when he fell back into phase. He'd still solved two homicides. Buzz really didn't want Detective Lassiter to think he was some mangy mutt, so he stocked up on itching powder and worked twice as hard to make up for it.

Everything about being a dog was pretty simple. The part about being a guy who turned into a dog – well, that got a little complicated sometimes.

"Come on," Shawn Spencer begged him. "It'll be fun."

"I don't know, Shawn," Buzz said. "I don't really like leashes."

"You wouldn't have to be on the leash for long," Shawn said. "Just from the car to the dog park and back. You can run around all you want at the park."

"Couldn't you just get a real dog?" Buzz asked.

"Tragically, animals and I have never really gotten along."

"Then should you really be going to a park full of them?"

"Buzz, you're missing the big picture. The spirits tell me – " Shawn cut himself off, rephrased. "I know that someone at that park was blackmailing Old Man Wagmeister, I just need an excuse to get in there and look around. And if you come with me, than we'll have two pairs of eyes, two pairs of ears, three pairs of legs. We'll catch onto them in no time."

Shawn was so used to lying about being a psychic that it was hard to break the habit, even though he knew that they all knew he didn't really have any powers. Or maybe he just liked pretending. He looked a little sad.

People were so complicated. Buzz was kind of excited about going to a dog park, even if it meant leashes.

"Okay," Buzz said. "But you're bringing a Frisbee."


End file.
